How to Qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant While Working Full-Time

Yes, you can qualify as an ICAEW Chartered Accountant while working full-time. In fact, the ACA is built around it: almost everyone who qualifies does so while employed. The real question is not whether you can combine work and study, but which route fits the job you already have. This guide walks through the options, the one requirement that decides most people's route, and how to plan your study around a full-time role.

If you are new to the qualification, start with our complete guide to the ICAEW ACA, then come back here to choose your route.

The requirement that shapes every route: the training agreement

To become an ICAEW Chartered Accountant you need two things: you must pass the exams, and you must complete practical work experience under a training agreement. ICAEW is specific about the experience:

• 450 days of practical work experience, where a day is seven hours long.
• The experience must be gained with an ICAEW authorised training employer or principal.
• A training agreement can run for a maximum of 60 months. If you have not reached 450 days by the agreed end date, your employer must extend it.
• Study leave, courses, holidays, sickness and pure office administration do not count towards your days.
• Your experience is logged in your online training file and signed off by your employer at least every six months.

Qualifying experience can come from accounting, audit and assurance, taxation, financial management, information technology or insolvency. Audit is not compulsory, which matters if you work in industry rather than practice.

This is the single biggest practical difference from ACCA, where the work experience requirement can be met with any employer. With the ACA, your employer has to be authorised by ICAEW. So the first question for anyone working full-time is simple: is my employer an authorised training employer?

Route 1: your employer is already an authorised training employer

This is the most straightforward path. Most large and mid-tier accountancy practices, and many corporates with graduate finance programmes, are authorised. If yours is, ask HR or your finance director about starting a training agreement. In most cases the employer will also arrange or fund your tuition and give you study leave before exams.

Who it suits: anyone in a practice firm, or in a finance team at a larger organisation that already trains ACA students.

Route 2: ask your current employer to become authorised

If your employer is not authorised, that is not necessarily the end of the road. ICAEW authorises employers, and an organisation can apply to become an authorised training employer so that it can offer training agreements. This works best where you are already doing varied accounting or finance work and your manager is willing to support you through six-monthly reviews.

Who it suits: people in finance roles at small and medium-sized businesses who want to stay with their current employer.

Route 3: study independently, then find a training agreement

ICAEW also lets you study independently: you can sit exams before your work experience and without an employer sponsoring you. Independent students do not keep work experience records, because they are only completing exams at that stage. You will still need a training agreement with an authorised employer before you can qualify.

Who it suits: people who want to make progress on the exams now, for example while planning a move into a practice firm or a larger finance team.

Other routes worth knowing about

ICAEW lists six main routes in total, including an AAT-ACA fast track for AAT-qualified accountants, the ACA-CTA joint programme for those specialising in tax, and apprenticeships. If you already hold AAT, check the fast track first, as it can shorten the journey.

What you will be studying

ICAEW is moving all three levels to its Next Generation ACA syllabus between 2025 and 2027:

That is 14 exams in total. The new Certificate Level includes Accounting Fundamentals, Business Law, Tax Fundamentals and Sustainability and Ethics, while the Professional Level includes Corporate Financial Strategy and Corporate Reporting, Data and Assurance. Check which syllabus applies to you when you register, as the transition finishes in November 2027.

How to plan study around a full-time job

Whichever route you take, the challenge is the same: fitting serious exam preparation around a demanding role. The students who manage it well tend to do a few things consistently.

Build a weekly routine, not a cram plan

Short, regular sessions beat occasional marathons. Block fixed study slots into your week, for example two weekday evenings and a longer weekend session, and protect them like meetings.

Agree study leave early

If you are on a training agreement, find out exactly how much study leave you get and when. Book it around exam dates as soon as they are known, especially if your work has busy seasons such as year end.

Use your job as revision

The ACA is designed so that work and study reinforce each other. When a topic comes up at work, such as a tax computation or an audit procedure, revisit the theory that week. It makes both stick.

Choose flexible tuition

On-demand lectures, question practice and mock exams you can access at any hour make it far easier to keep going through busy periods at work. Structured online tuition lets you study at your own pace without losing the discipline of a plan.

It is worth doing at least one full paper to time, so use our free ACCA mock papers and solutions.

Plan your exam sequence realistically

Taking on too many papers at once during a busy period at work is the most common reason working students fall behind. Spread the exams so that each sitting is achievable alongside your job.

ACA or ACCA if your employer is not authorised?

If none of the ACA routes works for your situation, it is worth comparing the alternatives. ACCA's work experience can be gained with any employer, which makes it more flexible for people who want to stay where they are. Both qualifications carry audit rights in the UK. Our ACCA vs ICAEW comparison sets out the differences in detail, and you can explore our ACCA courses if that route suits you better.

Frequently asked questions

Can I do the ACA without a training agreement?

You can sit the exams as an independent student, but you cannot qualify as a Chartered Accountant without completing a training agreement and its 450 days of practical work experience with an authorised employer.

Does my current job count towards the 450 days?

Only experience gained under a training agreement with an ICAEW authorised training employer or principal counts. If you change employer, the new employer decides how much of your previous experience to recognise.

How long does it take to qualify while working?

A training agreement can last up to 60 months, and the time depends on your route, exemptions and how quickly you pass the exams. Our guide on how long the ICAEW ACA takes covers typical timelines.

Do I have to work in audit?

No. Audit is not compulsory. Experience in accounting, tax, financial management, IT or insolvency can all count.

Qualifying as a Chartered Accountant while working full-time is demanding, but it is how the ACA is meant to be done. Confirm your employer's status first, choose the route that fits, and build a study routine you can sustain.